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Jan 25, 2009

NCSSMA Newsletter -- And One Of My Pet Peeves


The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA) has issued its January 2009 Newsletter. Of some interest to me were the articles on Social Security's new VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) project and Teleservice Center operation.

The newsletter also has a timely article about the importance of Social Security during a recession, which includes the chart shown above. Click on the chart to see it full size. The article says that this chart proves that disability claims go up during a recession. You can see no more than a tiny bit of proof for that proposition in the chart. There is simply no evidence in this chart or elsewhere that disability claims soar when economic times are bad. No recession has ever caused more than a slight bump in Social Security disability claims filed in the United States. Disability claims are certainly going up now, but this surge in claims was predictable decades ago. It is due to the aging of the baby boomer population.

There is one thing that has previously caused significant increases in disability claims filed -- making it less difficult to get on Social Security disability benefits.

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